Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen () is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from the two most important collectors of

Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans (1 November 1767 – 19 June 1847) was a Dutch art collector. He was born in Maastricht and died in Utrecht. After long negotiations with the then-mayor of Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River ...

and Daniël George van Beuningen. It is located at the

Museumpark Museumpark is an urban park in Rotterdam, Netherlands, located between the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Westersingel, Westzeedijk and the complex of the Erasmus MC, a medical centre affiliated with the Erasmus University. The park lies on the ...

in the district Rotterdam Centrum, close to the Kunsthal and the Natural History Museum. The museum opened in 1849. It houses the collections of

(1767–1847) and Daniël George van Beuningen (1877–1955). The museum has become the house of over 151,000 artworks over 170 years. In the collection, ranging from medieval to contemporary art, are works of

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, and Salvador Dalí and other famous collections that includes the masterpieces of the �
Achilles series
�� by Peter Paul Rubens an
‘A Cornfield, in the Background the Zuiderzee’
by Jacob van Ruisdael. In 2013, the museum had 292,711 visitors and was the 14th most visited museum in the Netherlands. The museum has been closed since 2019 due to improvement works and is scheduled to reopen in 2026.

History

The museum was established in 1849 as Museum Boijmans with the collection of Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans (1767–1847). After the agreement between the Rotterdam City Council and Boijmans, the Schielandshuis was bought by City Council to house the collections. The painter and art dealer,

Arie Johannes Lamme Arie Johannes Lamme, also spelled Ary (27 September 1812, Dordrecht - 25 February 1900, Berg en Dal) was a Dutch painter, etcher, lithographer, art dealer and museum director. He specialized in genre scenes and historical works. Biography H ...

, was named the museum's first director. Much of the museum's original collection was destroyed in a fire in 1864. After the devastating fire breakout, the Schielandshuis became small to fit the growing collections and visitors of Museum Boijmans. Then the new museum was built in 1929 and opened in Museumpark in 1935. The building was designed by the city architect Adriaan van der Steur (1893-1953). Then the exhibition building was built which was designed by the architect

Alexander Bodon Alexander Bodon (Vienna, 6 September 1906 – Amsterdam, 22 January 1993) was a Dutch architect. Bodon's father, K. Bodon, was a Hungarian interior architect. As a young man Alexander was first taught the trade of building furniture, and in 1924 ...

(1906-1993) with the purpose of exhibition. "In 2003 the Flemish architects Robbrecht en Daem added new galleries to the exhibition building, siting them like a girdle around Bodon's large rooms. In their galleries they used clear and frosted glass, concrete and parts of the original brick wall. This and the library on the street side are the most recent extensions of the museum until now." The collection of businessman Daniël George van Beuningen (1877–1955) was added in 1958, at which point the museum acquired the name Museum Boymans–Van Beuningen. The spelling was changed to 'Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen' in 1996. A spokesman of the Dutch Jewish community, Ronny Naftaniel, demanded without success the removal of Van Beuningen's name because of his acquisitions of Jewish-owned artworks during the Holocaust in the Netherlands. The Van Beuningen de Vriese Pavilion was built and designed by the

Hubert-Jan Henket Hubert-Jan Henket (born 11 March 1940, in Heerlen) is a Dutch architect. He is a specialist in the relations between old and new buildings, the redesign of buildings, renovation and restoration. He is the founder of DOCOMOMO international. Life ...

in 1991 to add the collections from the Beuningen.

Architecture

The building of Van der Steur had been built with the consideration of detail lighting, spaces which were inspired by the surroundings. The architect used traditional materials such as brick, natural stone and copper. The exhibition building was built with three large flexible spaces that could be reconfigured depending on each exhibitions needs. Bodon created a 'new wing' at a time when modern art literally and figuratively required space. The rooms had white and diffused lighting from above. The view of the garden from the large window gave views which reputedly distracted the attention of some visitors from the art. The ceiling which showed the arts' character with details of design meaning in them. The pavilion holds the collections of preindustrial household objects. The space of pavilion is very transparent as the building has used the glass and silver-colored steel roof construction. Rotterdam depot boijmans

The construction of

Depot Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen (initially called 'het Collectiegebouw' (Collection Building), popularly called 'The Pot') is an art depot of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. It is the first publicly accessible art depot in the world. It ...

was started in 2017 and was officially opened by king Willem-Alexander on November 5, 2021. It is the world's first fully accessible art depot. The depot has been built in consideration of public and private partnership where inside and outside are intertwined. The plan of the museum is to give the visitors an impression in great scale of the collections which can be seen from the central staircase and landings. The ground floor of the depot consists of a welcoming entrance area with coffee corner, also is used for art handlings. The upper floors are for exhibitions spaces. The atrium gallery which has glass roof has collections from old buildings. The building is built with the sustainability in mind by architects

MVRDV MVRDV is a Rotterdam, Netherlands-based architecture and urban design practice founded in 1993. The name is an acronym for the founding members: Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, and Nathalie de Vries. History Maas and Van Rijs worked at OMA, De Vr ...

. The depot facade is covered by different types of glass with different color code to make the building flexible with the natural lightings. For example, the roof is coded with pink glass, which are transparent to afford visitors a view of the city and museum from the roof. There is also the restaurant Renilde (named after the former curator Renilde Hammacher) and salon Coert (named after the former director of the Rotterdam Museum Coert Ebbinge Wubben) situated.

Collection

Geertgen tot Sint Jans - Virgin and Child - WGA08518

The museum has a diverse collection ranging from medieval to contemporary art, with somewhat of a focus on Dutch art. Much of the collection came to the museum through the two private collections mentioned above, but many others have contributed throughout the years. The museum also holds many great house hold objects which emphasize the history of design over the 8th centuries. The collection of the household objects contain from the medieval pitchers and glass from the Golden Age to the furniture by many prominent designers and with contemporary Dutch design. Among the best-known artists that are exhibited in the permanent exhibition of the museum are Hieronymus Bosch,

Pieter Bruegel the Elder Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; – 9 September 1569) was the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes (so-called genr ...

, Claude Monet, Wassily Kandinsky, Vincent van Gogh, Maurizio Cattelan,

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...

, René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, Mark Rothko,

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( , ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His best known work, ''The Scream'' (1893), has become one of Western art's most iconic images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dr ...

, Willem de Kooning, and Yayoi Kusama. The collection also includes one of the richest assembly of works on paper (etchings, drawings, lithographs, etc.) in the world from the Middle Ages to the present times.

Selected works

* ''

The Glorification of the Virgin ''The Glorification of the Virgin'' ( nl, De verheerlijking van Maria)The Glorification of the Virg ...

'' (c. 1490–95) by Geertgen tot Sint Jans * ''

The Wayfarer ''The Wayfarer'' (or ''The Pedlar'') is an oil on panel painting by Hieronymus Bosch, created ''c.'' 1500. It is currently in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. This painting is round and in diameter. It is one of the fragments of a par ...

'' () by Hieronymus Bosch * '' Nest of Owls'' () by Hieronymus Bosch * '' The "Little" Tower of Babel'' () by

* ''Titus at his Desk'' (1655) by

* ''Belisarius receiving alms'' (1669) by Mattia Preti * ''Hut of the Douaniers with Varengeville'' (1882) Claude Monet * '' Portrait of Armand Roulin'' (1888) by Vincent van Gogh * ''

On the Threshold of Liberty ''On the Threshold of Liberty'' (in French, ''Au seuil de la liberté'') refers to two oil on canvas paintings by the Belgian surrealist René Magritte. The work depicts a large room with the walls paneled with different scenes or windows. Eac ...

'' (1929) by René Magritte * '' Not to be Reproduced'' (1937) René Magritte * ''Impressions of Africa'' (1938) Salvador Dalí * ''

Shirley Temple, The Youngest, Most Sacred Monster of the Cinema in Her Time ''Shirley Temple, The Youngest, Most Sacred Monster of the Cinema in Her Time'' (or ''Shirley Temple, The Youngest, Most Sacred Monster of Contemporary Cinema''), also known as the ''Barcelona Sphinx'',Salvador Dalí * ''

The Face of War ''The Face of War'' (''The Visage of War''; in Spanish ''La Cara de la Guerra'') (1940) is a painting by the Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí. It was painted during a brief period when the artist lived in California. The trauma and the view ...

'' (1940) Salvador Dalí The collections in the museum gives the brief description of history of design. Th
Wrath of Achilles
(c. 1630- 1635) by Peter Paul Rubens, is a tapestry from Achilles series. The tapestries flourished hugely from the Gothic period and remained until today. These tapestries are the mirror image of the sketch but these are weaving techniques in which the design are carried out back to front. The tapestries were hung in the walls of prestigious reception rooms during these periods. Th
Tulipcabinet
(c. 1635–1650) by

Herman Doomer Herman Doomer or Hermann Dommers (1595 – 14 March 1650) was a Dutch Golden Age furniture and frame-maker who is best known today for his portrait by Rembrandt. Life He was born in Anrath, near Venlo, and married Baertje Martens from Naarden in ...

, is the cabinets built or used during Renaissance period where the use of decorative motifs were famous. The tulip motif in this cabinet indicates the symbol of wealth and the tulip bulb carries the symbol of enormous sums of money in the 17th century. This also indicates that this type of cabinets were used by noble rich peoples. Th
Display rummer with panorama of the city and harbour of Hamburg
(in 1704–1709) by

Johann Simon Rothaer, Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name ''Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...

is a goblet or monumental wineglass which is engraved with cityscape of Hamburg using copper wheel engraving representing the 18th century and pre-industrial design. There are figures on the foot which represents the four seasons. These types of goblets were often used on the buffet during spectacular banquets. Th
Mountainous evening landscape
(c.1665) by Adam Pijanacker, is the two dimensional painting which were widely used as a decorative effect for wall coverings and was fashionable thing to fill the walls with landscape paintings in Netherlands around 17th centuries. Th
Mondial chair
(c. 1957–1958) by Wim Rietveld, is the design manufactured during industrial which been created with sheet metal structure and fibre-glass seat reinforced with plastic. It was designed in the collaboration between Gerrit Rietveld and his son Wim. The chair gives remarkable simplicity with its special K profile of the back, the seat, the legs. Th
Cupboard 'Carlton'
(c. 1981) by Ettore Sottsass, is unique to the design practiced during 80s by Italian designers' group. This design was considered or called as anti-design as the designer had used liberal color with low cultural aspects. "Laminated prints of imitation marble and wood are used to decorate the surfaces of the furniture. One of the most used patterns is one taken from a blown-up image of bacteria. Sottsass once testified to having taken inspiration from tiles from subway bathrooms." Even though the materials used in this furniture were industrial, they were produced in limited series as this design was the protest of designers against the mass consumptions and corporate design style. This development made everyone to think the purpose and meaning of each objects in their surroundings in transition of modernism art deco designs. Along with this type of design collections, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen holds many objects from 1500 to the present day displaying a specific theme in the history of design. For example, the collections of Oriental porcelain in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the building. "The museum used seven rooms to exhibit some thirty themes from the history of design, illustrated by objects from the Middle Ages until now: from a 17th century tulip chest to an Eames chair, from ceramics from the middle ages to china by Hella Jongerius." These designs display us how almost everything was handmade which showed the craftsmanship before industrial period or before different technologies were invented. The collections in the museum shows the evolution of designs over the centuries to present day designs.

Nazi looted art

Dirk Hannema Dirk Hannema (16 September 1895 – 7 July 1984) was a controversial museum director and art collector. The Museum Boijmans flourished under his directorship, but he was also arrested and interned for eight months for his conduct during the Germa ...

, the director of the Boijmans from 1921 to 1945, acquired for the museum artworks that had been looted from Jewish collectors who were deported and murdered in the Holocaust during the German occupation of the Netherlands. Some of the looted artworks have been restituted to the families of the victims. In 2018 an exhibition was created around the history of the Boijman and Nazi looted art. The issue of artworks looted from Jews in the museum collection remains contentious and unresolved.

Activities

The Education Department of the museum organizes children's activities, courses, lectures and tours.

ARTtube

ARTtube is a website with videos about art and design. ARTtube is produced by Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, M HKA Antwerp, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, De Pont, Centraal Museum Utrecht, Museum Jan Cunen and Rotterdam.

Television

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen produces, together with TV Rijnmond, a television series on art. Boijmans TV is based on an idea by Wilfried de Jong. Boijmans TV is created by a team of creative specialists in different disciplines. It is more than an art magazine; apart from the artists, the museum visitor, the attendant and the employee of technical services appear on the series. Each episode of Boijmans TV can be viewed on ArtTube after it has been broadcast.

Administration

Sjarel Ex has been the museum director since 2004.Henny de Lange,
Het charme-offensief van Sjarel Ex werkt
, '' Trouw''. Retrieved on 5 August 2014. The museum had 292,711 visitors in 2013.Jaarverslag 2013
, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, 2014. Retrieved on 28 June 2014. That year it was the most visited museum in Rotterdam and the 14th most visited museum in the Netherlands.Daan van Lent & Pieter van Os,
Musea doen het goed: aantal bezoekers in 2013 fors gestegen
, ''

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ''NRC Handelsblad'' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. It is generally accepted as a newspaper of record in the Netherlands. History ''NRC Handelsblad'' was first published on 1 ...

'', 2013. Retrieved on 5 August 2014. It had an estimated 270,000 visitors in 2015.

Notes

References

External links

*
Virtual tour of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
provided by

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world. It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...

* {{Authority control 1849 establishments in the Netherlands Art museums and galleries in the Netherlands Former private collections Modern art museums Museums in Rotterdam Museums established in 1849 Rijksmonuments in Rotterdam Buildings and structures in Rotterdam